While not as drastic as the Common Sense Revolution cuts of the early 1990s, this latest round of provincial cuts to postsecondary education is still akin to “death by 1,000 cuts,” Janice Deakin told university Senate members last week.
During her presentation, Western’s provost and vice-president (academic) discussed the financial reality Western faces over the next few years. She expects the university to see a reduction in provincial funding eventually totaling $15 million.
She said the provincial government, while financially ravaged, is still advocating balancing its books by 2018, a goal she doesn’t see as attainable.
“I don’t think those of us who watch this sort of thing actually have a great deal of confidence they’re going to get there,” Deakin said. “The overarching issue is the provincial government is under duress with respect to its revenues.”
In response to funding challenges, Deakin said the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) began applying what it refers to as ‘policy levers’ to the postsecondary sector.
“That was code language for they didn’t know how they were going to find the money, but they had a bill to pay back to the Ministry of Finance, so these were to be ‘as-yet-determined cuts’ to colleges and universities,” Deakin said.
The MTCU reduced operating funding by $750 to universities and colleges for each international student enrolled in the first year of their undergraduate or master’s program, which began this year. Over the next few years, that reduction will be applied to all non-PhD international students.
With BEd programs going to two years, the entering class is going to be 50 per cent of the size, and, in turn, that means a tuition loss of 50 per cent in year one.
The MTCU is also changing the Basic Income Unit (BIU). The BIU refers to a weighting system used to assign operating funding to institutions. Different BIU weights, ranging from 1 to 7.5, are assigned to individuals studying in different programs, and at different levels. Each BIU is worth a specific amount of government funding each year. That number will be moving from 2 down to 1.5.
Deakin said this all basically means a 33 per cent reduction in funding to the Faculty of Education.
Other looming changes will affect how the university bills students.
Currently, when a Western student reaches 75 per cent of a full course load, they pay 100 per cent tuition. While approximately half the universities and colleges in Ontario use this method, the threshold varies at each institution. With the threshold at Western moving to 80 per cent of a full course load, Deakin expects this to cost Western approximately $1.2 million, with another $1.6 million cost in how the university is expected to collect these fees.
While the incremental cuts may seem minor, collectively, a $15-million drop in revenue is significant, Deakin said. As an example, she added the entire acquisitions budget for Western Libraries is $12.5 million.
“It’s a lot of money. We could do a lot of things with $15 million,” she continued. “It’s a significant reduction in our revenue line and there is no ifs, ands or buts about this; this is a reality. These cuts are coming, starting in the next fiscal year.”
While not welcomed news, Deakin added, the university will forge on.
“These are sobering numbers, but we still need to have our gaze at the right point on the horizon, and we still need to keep an eye on what we do – invest and make gains – which will be guided by our new strategic plan.”
Western President Amit Chakma agrees with Deakin. While cuts are never easy, he is cautiously optimistic the university will work through it much better than the $20 million in cuts faced in the early 1990s.
“I think we are much better prepared today to deal with this,” he said. “We manage our resources well, and this institution has the capacity to manage these painful cuts over the next couple of years.”
NEWS AND NOTES
- Western and Public Service Alliance Canada (PSAC) Local 610 have reached a tentative agreement. The union represents approximately 27 of Western’s postdoctoral associates. Their contract expired Sept. 30. Details of the agreement will not be released until after it has been ratified by both the union members and the university’s Board of Governors.
- While many psychics claim to be able to read people’s minds, Western neuroscientist Jody Culham really can – with some help from functional magnetic resonance imaging.
“By tracking brain signals, we can predict two to three seconds in advance of what a person is going to do,” Culham said. This knowledge could open the door for a number or therapies and technologies that address movement disorders by using brain signals to control artificial limbs.
Culham is one of five researchers from across Ontario who will debate What Matters Now London at a free public engagement event at the London Children’s Museum at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 26. It is the second of five talks in the 2014 speaker series, Research Matters, which will travel across the province over the next five months.
The series is a collaborative effort of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), and will be moderated by well-known radio and television personality, Piya Chattopadhyay, who is often a host on both CBC radio and TVO’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda.
Visit the Research Matters webpage, yourontarioresearch.ca, or follow on twitter @OntarioResearch, for more details. - Brescia University College will host its annual More Than a Book Sale from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday in the St. James Auditorium, featuring gently used books, local artisans, live music and organic and local food. The event is hosted by The Circle at Brescia, a program and resource centre that focuses on women’s contributions to the local and national. Proceeds from the event will go directly to fund programming, events, and the resource library at The Circle, as well as other community organizations.